Some known coin acceptance mechanisms include means for sensing the phase change of a signal established in a first coil and induced in a second spaced apart coil when a coin passes between the pair of coils. Others include means for sensing the change in amplitude of a signal established in a first coil and induced in a second coil when a coin passes between the pair of coils. Examples of such devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,610, U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,644, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,097,934.
It is desirable to be able to readily change the criteria for determining an acceptable coin to enable the coin acceptance mechanism to work with coins of various national governments and coins or tokens of various denominations. The size and metallurgical content of Canadian coins differs from that of United States coins and differs from that of Australian coins. Hence, it is desirable to have a coin mechanism in which the criteria for determining whether a coin or token is acceptable can be varied to accommodate coins of various nationalities, values, size and metallurgical content.
The present invention overcomes the disadvantages associated with the prior art by providing a coin acceptance mechanism which can be programmed to determine a range of acceptable values for criteria associated with acceptable coins of various nationalities and values.